Toyota did not pass Ford to become the world's number two automaker, Bloomberg News reported, citing Toyota President Fujio Cho.

"If you use exactly the same basis for comparison, is the No. 2 carmaker," Cho told reporters at a briefing in San Francisco. "The numbers Ford announced were the unit sales based upon financial results at the closure of the books for the fiscal year. Using the same base for calculation, according to that, it is clear Ford is the No. 2."

Toyota said in January that it sold 6.78 million vehicles worldwide last year, including those of subsidiaries Hino Motors Ltd. and Daihatsu Motor Co., exceeding Ford's 6.72 million. But last week, the Japanese company announced a modified total of 6.49 million, excluding sales of joint ventures in China and Indonesia.

, which plans to raise its global market share to 15 percent within a decade from more than 10 percent now, has said it has no specific goal of beating Ford or General Motors, the story noted.

Vehicles using hydrogen fuel cells are not just around the corner, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing the conclusions of a National Academies of Science panel.

"This is a tremendously important, transforming opportunity we are talking about, but it's not going to happen with current technology and current knowledge," said Dan Sperling, a panel member and director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California-Davis.

Even under the most optimistic scenario, the first hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles won't reach commercial showrooms by 2015 and it would take at least another quarter-century before they have a major effect on the market, the panel concluded.

Among the obstacles to a hydrogen-based economy, the National Academies of Science noted the following:

Fuel cells, which convert chemical energy into electricity, have a short lifespan and cost at least 10 times too much to be a cost-effective alternative in the consumer market.

A fuel-cell vehicle's driving range is only about half that of a conventional car.

Hydrogen must be made, stored and transported using other energy sources.

There is currently no supply and manufacturing system capable of serving a mass market and it's unclear how to create such a system.

And hydrogen, which is usually stored as an odorless gas under high pressure, needs specialized tanks and pipelines, and handling it raises some difficult safety issues.

Horsepower Still Sells

More powerful engines are growing in popularity, the Associated Press reported.

Automakers installed large V-8 engines in 29.1 percent of all passenger vehicles built in North America for the U.S. market last year, the highest rate since 1985, the AP said, citing Ward's Automotive Reports. The rate has risen every year since 2000, when V-8s went into 25.3 percent of North American-built cars and trucks for American drivers, Ward's statistics show.

In the same four-year stretch, smaller 4-cylinder installations fell from nearly 27 percent to 25.3 percent.

Analysts and industry executives gave the AP a variety of reasons for the rise in popularity of V-8s:

Strong demand for trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

Relatively inexpensive gas prices.

Technology that's leading to improved fuel efficiency, even in bigger engines.

And, consumer incentives also have allowed many people to "buy up," using cash rebates or low interest rates to help them nab a vehicle with a larger, more expensive engine.

However, though many consumers are choosing bigger engines, more ecologically friendly gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles are also growing in popularity. Sales of the only hybrids available in the United States, made by and Toyota, have risen from about 20,000 in 2001 to 47,000 last year, according to the Power Information Network, an affiliate of J.D. Power and Associates.